Obesity Causes Vitamin D Deficiency

Over 42,000 people from 21 countries participated in the study. The researchers tried to identify any genetic variations that could be involved with BMI and Vitamin D to ensure that there were no other factors that could influence the results.

They found that the association between high BMI and low Vitamin D was consistent among all different demographic groups. For each 10% increase in BMI there was a 4.2% drop in Vitamin D. Vitamin D scores appeared to have no link to BMI, indicating that the association between the two is more likely a Vitamin D lowering effect caused by a high BMI.

The authors said:

"We demonstrated that the association between BMI and lower (Vitamin D) concentrations in Caucasian populations from North America and Europe can be seen across different age groups and in both men and women. We also show that higher BMI leads to lower Vitamin D status, providing evidence for the role of obesity as a causal risk factor for the development of Vitamin D deficiency."

"Together with the suggested increases in Vitamin D requirements in obese individuals, our study highlights the importance of monitoring and treating Vitamin D deficiency as a means of alleviating the adverse influences of excess adiposity on health.Our findings suggest that population level interventions to reduce obesity would be expected to lead to a reduction in the prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency."